Ratigan's Big Birthday Surprise
by DiscordantPrincess
Summary: It's Ratigan's fiftieth birthday, and Fidget and the other have a big surprise planned for him. One-shot.


**Helloooooooooooooooooo FanFiction nurses...yeah, I'm a major Animaniacs fan, is it noticeable?**

**Wow, I've just been rolling with the GMD one-shots, haven't I? This is gonna be my last post for a while, since I'm leaving tomorrow to visit my family for Thanksgiving and won't be back until Sunday. Hope y'all like the drabble!**

LONDON - MAY 27TH, 1897

Professor Ratigan stood by his bed in his private room, putting on his best suit. Today was his fiftieth birthday, and his employees were setting up an enormous celebration in honor of the day.

Fifty. He could hardly believe that he had been on the earth for fifty years. He looked into a large mirror in his room at his reflection and grinned. He was just as handsome and strong as he had been when he was a younger mouse. He just had a few more gray hairs and wrinkles than he had in the past.

"Fifty? HA! Oh, Ratigan, you don't fifty at all," the professor told his reflection. "You look thirty, thirty-five at most. And you're still in peak physical health. How many fifty-year-olds can say THAT about themselves?" He leaned back and laughed, then groaned as he felt something in his back crack. "All right, maybe you're not QUITE in peak physical health, but you're still better off than so many others of your age."

After he finished dressing, Ratigan looked over at two portraits hanging on the wall. The first was a portrait of himself and a lovely young tawny mouse woman with shoulder-length blonde hair and dark blue eyes. He was wearing a tuxedo and she was wearing a white wedding gown. This was a portrait from his wedding day, showing him with his dearly departed wife Mary. It had been nearly eighteen years since she passed on before her time, right after giving him the greatest gift he had ever received; their beautiful, intelligent, daughter Danielle.

The second portrait was a picture of Danielle at her thirteenth birthday. She looked just as stunning as her mother, with her dusty gray fur, her black hair, and her expressive dark blue eyes. She wore a frilly green dress with a matching bow in her hair. Danielle would be turning eighteen that July, and was in Bristol at Miss Rebecca's School for Elegant Young Ladies, the finest boarding school in England. His baby girl deserved no less than the best.

Ratigan sighed sadly as he gazed at both potraits. How he wished his two beauties could be here to celebrate this joyous occassion with him. He stroked Mary's half of their wedding portrait. "Oh, Mary, if only you could see how wonderfully Danielle has grown up. Every day she makes me prouder and prouder. I only hope that once she's old enough she can get herself out of these blasted sewers and into society like the amazing young lady she is. But it's too late for me. Ever since my first crime I've lived my life in the sewers like some common rat." He grimaced as he said _rat_; even though he himself was half-rat, just saying the word made his stomach turn. "I've gotten older in these sewers, and I shall most likely die in these sewers. I can only pray that Danielle won't be so unfortunate."

Just then, there was a knock on the door. "Hey, boss, we're ready for you," the gruff voice of his head lackey, Jonathan "Fidget" Batson, called out.

"I'll be right out, Fidget," Ratigan told him. He gave the pictures of his wife and daughter kisses and went out into the main sewer system, where the short peg-legged bat was waiting for him.

"C'mon, all the guys are waitin' for ya!" Fidget urged him as they walked to the main hall. He even got behind the professor at one point and tried to push him, but stopped once Ratigan gave him an annoyed golden-eyed stare.

"Oh for Heaven's sake, Fidget, why are you hurrying me along so much?" Ratigan demanded to know.

"You'll see in a minute," was all the bat would say.

Once they made it into the main hall, the professor was cheered on by all of his employees. They led him to his favorite seat; an old discarded throne that they had found and fixed up, and had him sit down.

"OK, boss, before we start the major festivities, we wanna start by givin' you an extra-special present," Fidget told his employer. "We're all sure you're gonna flip over it."

"Well I sincerely doubt that there will be any literal flipping, but go on."

"First, ya gotta close your eyes," Fidget directed. When Ratigan looked at him oddly, the bat added "It's a surprise." Ratigan rolled his eyes, but then shut them. Fidget waved his hand in front of the professor's face, then grinned when he was sure they were closed. "OK, Charley, bring the present in!"

"May I open my eyes now, Fidget?" Ratigan asked.

"No, not yet," Fidget replied. Ratigan heaved a sigh and folded his arms across his chest, his eyes still closed. He heard what sounded like the ruffling of taffeta and was confused. "NOW may I open them?"

"OK, now! SURPRISE!"

Ratigan opened his eyes and gasped. There, standing before him, was Danielle. She was wearing a burgundy dress that had once belonged to Mary and looked just as gorgeous on the daughter as it had the mother. Her long raven hair had been fixed into a braid. As a joke, the men had put a large red bow around her neck. "Danielle...?"

Danielle smiled. "Happy birthday, Daddy."

Immediately Ratigan got out of his throne, ran to his daughter, picked her up in his arms and twirled her around as he embraced her tightly. "What are you doing here? I mean, I'm thrilled beyond all reasoning that you are, but shouldn't you be at school?"

"I got special permission from Miss Rebecca herself to come into London for a few days," Danielle explained. "She said that my grades were so excellent, I could spare some time off. Besides, there was no way I was going to not see my father on his fiftieth birthday." She smiled at the bat. "Uncle Fidget arranged the whole thing, even paying for my train fare out of his own pocket money."

Ratigan gently set his daughter down, went over to Fidget and lifted him up into a bone-crushing hug. The men all looked in shock and pleasure at the first real sign of affection or gratitude that their boss had ever shown one of them. "Oh, thank you, Fidget."

"You're welcome, boss," Fidget gasped. "OK, you ain't a python, you can stop tryin' to squeeze my guts out!"

"Oh, right." Ratigan set the bat down. "Sorry my good fellow, I guess I don't really know my own strength." He beamed as he went back to Danielle's side. He then turned to his men. "I really don't know what to say other than, thank you all, my friends." He looked back at Danielle and hugged her again, tears welling up in his eyes. "Truly this is the best birthday I've ever had."

**Too bad this is the LAST birthday you'll ever had, Ratti...yeah, I'm evil, I can't help it.**

**Before you peeps ask, yes, the whole Ratigan-closing-his-eyes-before-Fidget-brings-in-Danielle thing was based on the scene from Beauty and the Beast when Beast is giving Belle his library and he has her close her eyes before he shows it to her. What can I say, I love that movie. **

**I have absolutely no idea what Fidget's real name is supposed to be, or if Fidget IS his real name, so I just made a name up. Hopefully you guys like it.**

**Thank you everyone for your kind reviews and faves. Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!**

**All my best, DiscordantPrincess.**


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